NOTE:For
information on how to create your own skins and to download
the templates please read thePowerSDR
Skins Tutorialpage.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE YOU START: This project
requires a basic understanding of file structure and folder
hierarchy. If you are uncomfortable with the thought of
navigating through folders and subfolders, then this is not for
you. I do not work for Flex (but it sounds like it would be fun)
and do not provide technical support, so if you decide to try
this you are on your own! If you know how to navigate through
folders and files with Windows explorer, and can create a folder
and a subfolder, and know how to unzip files, then I have no
doubt that you will enjoy playing around with this. Keep in mind
that this project adds folders and files to the PowerSDR Skins
directory, but it does NOT alter any files that are installed by
PowerSDR. Refer to the Installing Custom PowerSDR Skins page for
assistance with where to upzip the skin packs. If you attempt to
install a custom skin, and it does not show up in the list of
available skins, or the skin displays incorrectly, the problem
is always a result of incorrect placement of your custom folder
and its Console subfolder. If you are still stuck visit the Troubleshooting
Page for help.

DISCLAIMER: With all that being said, if you somehow
manage to mess things up, I take no responsibility for any
issues that you cause for yourself! If you are brave enough to
read on, you'll see how easy this actually is. The reality is
that PowerSDR is so forgiving that it will start up and display
an interface even if your selected skin has an empty Console
folder! It will be ugly, but just like those "People of Walmart"
photos that get passed around, PowerSDR doesn't really care how
you dress it up. What the heck, it's ham radio! You're supposed
to experiment and have fun! It's my hope that someone with more
artistic skill and creativity than I have will take what is here
and make some beautiful Flex skins to share with the entire Flex
community. If you come up with something great, I'd love to see
it. If you have some ideas to share, feel free to contact me. If
you would like Flex to use any of these skins in future
releases, tell them! They are welcome to anything that is here.

VERSION COMPATIBILITY NOTE: All the skins in the Download
Section of the page have been updated to be compatible with all
PowerSDR 2.x.x versions including the 2.4.4 and later releases.
They should work fine with any equipment that can run these
versions of PowerSDR. I have tested all of the skins and
templates with two different installations here and they work
perfectly. According to Google Analytics thousands of visitors
have downloaded skins and components from this page and while
there have been hundreds of positive comments, there have been
no reports of any issues. The short story is that if you have
compatibility concerns, download one and give it a run, nothing
bad will happen! If you already have one of my older custom
skins installed, or you have one that you created yourself, to
add the VAC1 and VAC2 functions that were added in PowerSDR
version 2.3.5 to the PowerSDR display you can simply grab a
button upgrade pack from the PowerSDR
skins tutorial page and unzip it into your skin's console
directory. You can also update any of my custom skins by
grabbing the full skin pack from the bottom of the page and
unzipping it right over the old skin you previously installed.

As a final note about compatibility, I have received email from
several HPSDR and PowerSDR-IQ users who have found that these
skins work fine with their modified versions of PowerSDR. You
are on your own as far as locating the Skins folder for these
version, but it shouldn't be hard to run a search and figure out
where things go. At times there may be additional buttons needed
for these special versions of PowerSDR but users have created
what they needed and made it work. So, those users who tinker
with the HPSDR platform, along with PowerSDR-IQ homebrewers and
Apache Labs owners are welcome to use whatever is on my pages.

I would love to see any creations anyone comes up with on their
own and if you have any feedback for me regarding the skins or
the component templates, feel free to contact me at the email
address below.

Thanks,
Rob W1AEX

A Few Random Thoughts

The ability to load a variety of colorful skins in the 2.X
versions of PowerSDR was a big step forward in the "looks"
department for the Flex GUI. From the architecture of the
interface software, it's pretty obvious that the Flex Corporation
has made a very serious effort to lead the pack in the fun
department for its owners. The short story is that with simple
graphics/photo editing software you can have a field day creating
your own look for PowerSDR. If you have a digital camera, you can
really get carried away and create some very unique skins for your
Flex Radio. Over the past year I have collected front panel shots
of radios that I own and have begged my friends for pictures of
their rigs to grab colors and metal textures that I could use in
various consoles. I now have a much higher respect for
photographers and their equipment after attempting to get shots
that were true to the actual color and textures of the equipment
that I was photographing. Shadows and glare were a real issue at
times, but some of them came out pretty nice, and others look like
mud according to my wife. Ah well, it's only art!

Free PowerSDR Skins for
Download

Follow the
installation instructions to install any
of the skin packs from below. Each pack contains
approximately 400 custom graphic files including
all the console panels, buttons, and sliders.
Feel free to modify them as you wish. After
installing a skin, you can easily change to
lighter or darker sliders by downloading the
Gradient Slider Packs from the PowerSDR
Skins Tutorial page and unzipping them so
they overwrite the sliders that are in the skin
packs below. You can do the same thing with all
the Button Packs as well. Mixing, matching, and
modifying these skins to suit yourself is half
the fun! The Collins and National skins with
logos in the lower left corner of the console
will only display the logo correctly when
PowerSDR is displayed at somewhere between the
minimum and maximum size. When PowerSDR is
expanded in size on your desktop, the console
panel graphic stretches but the embedded text
does not change in size. This causes the
position of the logo to collide with the
embedded Date-Clock or the RX/TX Antenna text
that is layered onto the console. If you find it
annoying, simply edit the Console.png file by
selecting the logo and then copy and paste it to
a position that allows it to display correctly
when PowerSDR is sized the way you like to run
it. Some trial and error will be necessary, but
you'll find the right spot eventually. As an
alternative, simply copy and then paste a
section of the console right over the logo to
eliminate it entirely. Another alternative is to
copy and paste the logo into the PicDisplay.png
file, which forms the background of the
panadapter. The upper left and upper right areas
of the panadapter offer an unobstructed area you
can work with. As long as you're having fun, you
are free to modify, share, or do whatever you
wish with any of the skins from
here.

NOTE about the High
Visual Skin: The first skin is a
spin-off from some ideas suggested by several
people during a discussion about making a
PowerSDR interface that resembles the Star Trek
LCARS (Library Computer Access Retrieval System)
interface visible in many scenes of various Star
Trek programs and movies. While using some ideas
for accomplishing this task, several people
commented that the simplified black console and
the high contrast buttons in the base interface
were very easy on the eyes. I have worked on
custom PowerSDR skins for a few hams who have
vision impairments and a high contrast GUI
sometimes makes it easier for them to confirm
settings at a glance. At any rate, the first
skin is offered as a possible first step in
making PowerSDR a little more visually friendly
for those who have impaired vision. As always,
if you have suggestions for improvements with
this project, email me and I'll be glad to try
things out to make this skin better. Note that
the pale-yellow frequency and meter displays are
controlled by settings within PowerSDR and are
not something that can be adjusted in the
graphics of the skins. There is an explanation
at the bottom of this page about how to change
the appearance of these data fields.

W1AEX Central Electronics
100V based upon K2WS Alan's beautiful rig. This skin actually
looks
quite a bit better when expanded to a much larger size than it
appears in this picture. I'd like to do
much more with this project so any thoughts on ways to improve
this one are more than welcome!Download
W1AEX Central Electronics 100V Simple Skin

W1AEX Central Electronics 100V
Replica Skin based upon K2WS Alan's restored rig. This one
might be a little more fun than the simple skin above. The
panadapter is turned off in the image
below, but is still very easy to read when displayed with the
CE-100V sitting behind it. Note that
the image of the CE-100V will distort when PowerSDR is displayed
at some screen sizes. That is
unfortunately unavoidable due to the way the PicDisplay.png
graphic is stretched when re-sized.Download
W1AEX Central Electronics 100V Replica

NOTE: Several people have asked me about the different
color VFO A/B, Band Data, Signal Strength Digital Data, and
Meter backgrounds that are seen in the skins pictured in the
Download section. Those changes are not part of the skins
editing project. The settings are user adjustable in the
PowerSDR "Appearance" tab by altering the "Red-Green-Blue"
values within the "More Colors" interface as shown in the
picture below. The pictures of the four meters down below
show the RGB values I arrived at for use with different
skins. Keep in mind that when you change the RGB values the
altered display colors will appear in all your skins, not
just the one that you were using at the time you changed the
values. Note also that it was necessary to change the
display text for each field to black for best viewing with
the lighter background colors. You might wish to export your
database before making any changes so that you can revert to
the stock display colors easily. To alter all the fields,
adjust the following components:

VFO - Background
Band Data - Out of Band and Background
Meter - Digital Background and Edge Style Background.

With the "edge style" meter it's also necessary to alter the
"Low Color", High Color, and "Indicator" to values that
contrast well with whatever background you choose to use. My
goal was to find values that would imitate what a
back-lit display might look like in some of the vintage
skins. Keep in mind that I am fairly color-blind, so you can
probably do a much better job! Thanks to Kevin WB4AIO for
pointing out this aspect of PowerSDR to me!

Simply alter the Red-Green-Blue values that are in
the lower right corner of the "Color" panel